Brooks v. Zebre

I regretfully but strongly dissent. The result of this holding permits predation by an attorney so long as the defrauded victim is not a client. I am unconvinced by the majority’s rationale that any other result would do “extreme violence to the adversarial process.” This fraud did not occur within the context of an adversarial process and I find such an explanation misplaced. It is non-adversarial if only one attorney directs the events. Flaherty v. Weinberg, 303 Md. 116, 492 A.2d 618 (1985).

John Arambel appeared to be close friends of Isaac and Patricia Brooks. The Arambels and the Brooks…